Sunday, February 1, 2015

In honor of Melody Gardot's birthday, I drew up this little tribute piece inspired by her song "Iemanja" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs2URbQ7k2s ). Music is so, so, so important to inspiration, and I'm forever grateful I have artists like this I can listen to that inspire me to think and to feel on a deeper level. I'm still working on it, but someday I wanna make art that can at least come a tiny bit close to being as beautiful as music like Melody's!Also, since Blogspot allows for a more natural way of posting more pictures and because I know no one will likely see this, I'd like to take a little time to delve into a few of my inspirations between this work, besides the song itself of course! No piece is created in isolation, research and reference is important!

Unfortunately I couldn't find the full version of the illustration on the left, but this is the general idea. This is a piece by Chizu Hashii, an artist I've been a fan of for years! I love the overwhelming purple in this scene and the mood it creates, but also the simplicity. These are certainly things I had in mind with my illustration, I wanted a limited palette that was simple and quiet in composition.

The gorgeous piece on the right is by Victoria Ying. I'm fortunate enough to own a print of this, which was an excellent last-minute decision on the last day. I have it sitting in my room now to be hung up, and since I've done most of my art in my room since we moved, I had it right across from me while I was sketching! Again there is a simplicity to this and also a brilliant sense of elegance that I was definitely working with on my own illustration.

Other parts of the illustration comes from an instinct about oceanic decor from my many, many trips to Michael's for supplies and general perusing haha! Also, research into the song lyrics... Iemanja herself is a Goddess in Brazilian culture, she's Queen of the Ocean and the spirit of the moonlight. This illustration comes both from the factual research and the feeling you get from Melody's lyrics and the mood of the song~ One of the lyrics is "little bitty boats set out on the sea", which is a reference to the offerings the fishermen send out to Iemanja for the New Year. If you look closely, you might see one :)